Delirious
by Miauz
Summary: Squall catches a virus that Dr. Kadowaki has never seen before... it causes Squall to act much differently than usual... Chapter 8 up!
1. Chapter 1

_This story is dedicated to Raine Ishida! She will understand the messed-upness of it. (Yes, I made up a new word....)_

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It was a beautiful sunny morning without a cloud in sight. A light, cool breeze blew from the shore towards Balamb Garden. Carried along with the breeze were a group of tiny, microscopic organisms. No, they weren't even organisms, they were viruses. The little segments of nucleic acid wrapped in protein coating followed the wind in it's decent to the unsuspecting military academy, looking for a new home.

  


Squall LeonHart was innocently sleeping in the SeeD dormitory, at that moment. His window was open a crack, as it always was in the hot summer months. His face scrunched up when a cool draft blew in and he rolled over, turning his back to the window.

  


Seventy-two minutes later, lively country music filled the room, loud enough to be heard down the dorm hall. The now awake seventeen year old reached over and punched his alarm clock off, forcefully. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stumbled into the small bathroom, where he stood before the mirror and looked into it. A pair of blue eyes stared back at him from behind wisps of messy brown hair. Squall briefly ran a comb through his hair, just enough to control the bedhead. 

  


An itch rose in his nose, causing him to sneeze. He sneezed again, and then again. When he was sure that the series of sneezes were over, he opened the medicine cabinet and popped open a container of pills. He tossed a few in his mouth then washed them down with a glass of water. He didn't want get sick, because then everyone would give him too much attention and fuss over his health. Especially Rinoa. As much as he liked and cared about her, he didn't want her to act like she did when he caught the flu during the previous winter. She forced him to stay in bed for a whole week after dragging him down to Dr. Kadowaki's office.

  


After getting dressed, Squall left the dormitory and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. There he found Zell, disappointed yet again after learning that the popular hot-dogs were sold out. Zell sulked passed without even saying hello to his friend and exited the cafeteria.

  


Squall sat alone at a table in the corner and quickly ate his breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, accompanied with a tall glass of orange juice. After dumping his plastic dishes into the garbage can and placing his tray on top of the others, he left the cafeteria for the training centre.

  


After only a few minutes of battling a couple of grats, Squall grew bored and decided to look for something else to do. He wondered around Balamb Garden until he found himself on a bench, watching two men paint the Academy's entrance. He thought about how boring his bedroom looked with it's dull white walls. They certainly needed some colour. He made up his mind to find some 'pretty' paint to make his room more interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Squall ignored the knocking on his door and continued on with his project. The knocking came again, followed by a voice. "I know you're in there, Squall! Why is your dresser in the hallway?" It was Selphie. He ignored her again but she opened the door and let herself in. He looked up at her annoyed, with purple spots all over his face and arms.

  


Selphie looked around the room curiously. The bed had been pushed into the middle of the room and one and a half of the walls were a deep shade of purple. "I'm not gonna ask." she said.

  


"Whatever." Squall mumbled and resumed painting. She watched him work, he appeared to be concentrating really hard.

  


"I just came to remind you that there's going to be another little Garden Festival tonight. The whole gang will be there." Selphie informed him. "It starts at eight. You will come won't you?"

  


"Whatever." he mumbled again and she gave up. She left him alone with his painting.

  


* * * * 

  


The library girl with the ponytail sighed as she pushed the cart of returned books down the aisle. She put one of the books back in its place on a shelf and was about to move on when she noticed that the whole book shelf was shaking. She looked around but there was no one else there. Continuing on, she returned another book to the same shelf and found that it was still shaking. Stepping back, she looked up and was surprised to see that there was someone perched on top of the of the shelving unit.

  


"Uh, excuse me." she called to them with her little voice and got no response. She looked closer and saw that it was Squall LeonHart up there, the friend of her crush, Zell Dincht. Whatever was he doing up there? "Excuse me!" she called again, louder this time and the SeeD looked down at her. "You'll have to get down from there!" He shook his head and continued to sit cross-legged on the book shelf.

  


The girl kept persisting but couldn't get him to listen to her. Fed up, she started returning more books, hoping that he would leave if she ignored him. Once in awhile, she'd glance back to see if he was still there and he indeed was. The other library staff also attempted to get the teenager down but with no luck. 

  


For the rest of the afternoon, the library operated like usual. Balamb students came in for research or just to find a good book to read, oblivious to the teenage boy who was still sitting on top of the shelving unit. The girl with the pigtail noticed that he had a book with him and was reading it. It was a children's book but he appeared to be deeply engrossed in it. 

  


After finishing the book for the second time, Squall dropped it over the edge, without a care. It plopped onto the floor next to a fellow student who curiously looked up to see where it came from. They saw a pair of feet dangling over the edge. The person walked away from the aisle, shaking his head, thinking he was going crazy. 

  


Squall finally got bored of sitting on the bookcase and decided he wanted to get down. He then realised how high up he was and began to panic. He couldn't see a way down and now he couldn't even remember how he got up there. This couldn't be good. He looked around for a ladder or anything that would assist him on his way down but found nothing. '_Be brave, Squall._' he thought to himself and prepared to jump. 

  


Spy music began to play, or at least in his head it did, and Squall leapt off of the bookcase while shouting "GERONIMO!" at the top of his lungs. His loud outburst attracted a lot of attention from the people in the library and he ran out of it. He sneaked around bookcases, carts, tables and chairs, believing he was a 'spy' as the music continued to play in his mind. Once outside, he leaned against the wall next to the library door, breathing heavily. He tapped his watch and spoke to it, "All right, Red Eagle, I'm out. Over." 

  


The SeeD, who obviously was not well, began to wonder around Balamb again. He soon forgot about his whole 'spy' experience and then, realising how hungry he was, he began a search for something to eat.


	3. Chapter 3

Squall LeonHart was busy snapping a leaf off of one of the shrubs in the quad when he was _rudely_ interrupted by the arrival of Rinoa.

  


"Squall! What are you doing? I've been looking all over for you!" she exclaimed.

  


"What do you think I'm doing." he replied, then sunk his teeth into the leaf.

  


"Selphie told me about your purple room and I heard about your trip to the library." Rinoa told him, she looked concerned. "Are you feeling well? Maybe you need to pay Dr. Kadowaki a visit." He shook his head frantically and snapped off another leaf. "Squall, obviously something is wrong if you're eating leaves. Give me that!" she pulled it out of his hand and tossed in onto the ground. He watched it drop, silently.

  


Rinoa tucked a loose strand of her highlighted, dark brown hair behind her ear and thought for a moment. "I have a piece of candy waiting for you if you come with me." she held out her hand. He raised his eyebrow as he considered the offer. Squall couldn't resist the thought of candy and grabbed his girlfriend's hand.

  


Once inside the infirmary waiting room, Rinoa sat Squall down in one of the chairs while she went to talk to the receptionist. He impatiently waited in his seat for his candy, swinging his feet to and fro. Dr. Kadowaki entered the room and announced that she would take Squall in right away.

  


Squall refused to get into his paper gown until he was given a piece of candy. Dr. Kadowaki luckily had a sucker in her lab coat pocket and handed it to the eager SeeD. After checking him over from head to toe, Kadowaki told Rinoa that she was 'baffled'. "I just don't know what to say." she scratched her head. "I'd like to get a blood sample and see if we can find anything."

  


"Ow!" Squall squealed and hot tears streamed down his cheeks when his arm was pricked by the needle.

  


"Just relax and slowly count to ten," Kadowaki calmly instructed him. 

  


Squall squeezed Rinoa's hand tightly and slowly counted. "One, Two, Three, Four, Fi-"

  


"Ok, all done." Dr. Kadowaki smiled and handed him a second sucker. While Squall excitedly tried to open the wrapper, the doctor led Rinoa outside to discuss his condition without him overhearing. 

  


"...We should get the results in a few days, until then you'll have to keep a close eye on that boy. Let me know right away if his conditions change." Kadowaki informed Rinoa. "I don't know if this is contagious either, so you'll have to be careful."

  


When the two woman re-entered the room, Squall was nowhere to be seen. His clothes were still neatly folded in a pile on the observation table. Rinoa immediately noticed that the window was open and ran up to it to look outside. She spotted the escapee not far off, running away in only his paper gown and Chocobo boxers. She moaned and rubbed her head, this was going to be a hard one to catch.


	4. Chapter 4

Quistis Trepe leaned against the buffet table and nibbled on an entrée. It didn't appear like anyone else from the gang had shown up for the festival yet, besides Selphie. She watched the bubbly, brown haired girl talk with another member of the Garden Festival Committee at the other end of the room.

  


"Hey, sexy! Looking good tonight!" A voice complimented from behind. 

  


Quistis rolled her eyes. "Hello Irvine." she said, reaching for another appetiser.

  


A short while later, the room began to fill up and cheery music was bouncing off of the walls. Zell was in his glory at the discovery of a tray of hot-dogs and slipped as many as he could into his pockets without drawing too much attention. He then sauntered over to a table where he joined Selphie, Quistis, Irvine, Raijin, Fujin, and Seifer. 

  


"What's that you got there, Chicken Wuss?" Seifer asked when Zell frantically tried to catch a hot-dog that slipped out of his pocket.

  


"Nothing." Zell replied and sat down in the farthest seat from him.

  


"Hey, where's Rinoa and Squall?" Irvine asked.

  


His question was answered moments later when someone in a paper gown was seen swinging on a rope that was suspended from the ceiling. He was beating his chest and making Tarzan calls. Rinoa was below him, watching carefully with a worried expression on her face. The music went silent as everyone present in the room stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the young man above them.

  


"Is that who I think it is?" Quistis asked before running over to investigate, along with everyone else at the table.

  


"Oh hi!" Squall shouted when he saw his friends gather below him. He tried to wave but lost his grip in the process and fell from his rope swing. Fortunately, he landed on Seifer, his arch rival, knocking him onto the floor.

  


"Get off of me!" the blond yelled at him and tried to push him away.

  


Squall jumped up immediately and glared at him. "No touchie!" he ordered, wagging his finger.

  


"Squall, honey, let's get you back to your dorm." Rinoa suggested, placing her arm around his shoulders.

  


"NO!" he cried, pulling away. He then ripped off his paper gown and threw it at her. Now he was only dressed in his Chocobo boxers but didn't seem to mind as he marched over to the buffet table to munch on a baby carrot.

  


When Rinoa approached him again in another attempt to get him to return to his dorm, he ran off, away from the Garden Festival. Everyone at the party looked on curiously until someone turned the music back on and they gradually returned to what they were doing before the interruption.


	5. Chapter 5

Rinoa and the others searched everywhere for the half-naked Squall on the loose. She had split up with Selphie, Quistis, Irvine and Zell who volunteered to help her find him. Rinoa double-checked the training centre, hoping to catch a glimpse of the chocobo boxers, but she had no such luck. She hoped the others were more successful and sat down to rest on a rock. She glanced at her watch, it was 11:30 pm. Rinoa sighed. He was probably fine. He probably got tired out and fell asleep somewhere. The thought of sleep was pretty tempting as she fought to keep her eyes open. The search was just going to have to wait until the morning.

  


She left the training centre and found the others waiting outside. They all shook their heads when she approached, they hadn't found him either. "He's fine I'm sure. Don't worry, Rinoa." Zell smiled when he saw her tired and worried face.

  


"Yeah, he's a big boy." Selphie agreed. "Besides, he can't get too far."

  


* * * * 

  


Squall woke up from a deep sleep, and opened his eyes to the unfamiliar surroundings. He could see the colour blue all around him and it took him a moment to realise that it was the interior of a car that surrounded him. He was sitting in the back seat, next to a black leather jacket neatly folded beside him. What was he doing in there? Squall opened the door and hopped outside, taking the jacket with him. He pulled the jacket on, not noticing or caring that his only other article of clothing was his boxers.

  


He noticed that he was in a parking lot and headed for the exit. Once outside, he could see that he was no longer in Balamb Garden, he was standing in Balamb City. "Sweet!" he exclaimed and ran off, past a child walking a dog, in one shoe. Squall was only wearing one shoe.

  


The SeeD wandered down the main street, past Zell's house, in the direction of the shore. He was anxious for a swim.

  


* * * *

  


"Over here, Rinoa!" Zell called from a table in the middle of the busy cafeteria. She carried her tray over the to the table and joined the rest of the gang who were hungrily shovelling their breakfast into their mouths.

  


"Did the Garden staff know where Squall was?" Selphie asked from across the table and Rinoa shook her head. "Have you talked to Dr. Kadowaki again?" Selphie pounded on her rock-hard waffle with the back of her fork. "Darn this cafeteria food!"

  


"Yes," Rinoa replied, "the results aren't back in yet. She said that this will eventually go away if we just give it time. But we don't know how much time."

  


"Boy is he ever going to be embarrassed when he recovers." Zell reached for Selphie's waffle and raised it to his mouth. "Ow!" he cried he tried to bite into it. "It's as hard as stone!"

  


"Serves you right for taking other people's food." Selphie stood up with her tray and snatched the waffle back. She playfully smacked Zell across the head with it before tossing it into the garbage, along with the contents of her tray.

After rubbing his head, Zell leaned over to Rinoa. "Let's go find that Squall!"


	6. Chapter 6

After a morning of unsuccessful searching Rinoa, Zell, Selphie and Quistis concluded that Squall was no longer in Balamb Garden. The four of them stepped out of the Garden gates into the sunshine. It was a hot summer day with blue sky which extended as far as the eye would see. They split into pairs, Quistis and Selphie heading left towards the Fire Cavern and Rinoa and Zell to the right, in the direction of Balamb City.

  


"Alright! Let's go, Quisty!" Selphie exclaimed, linking arms with her partner. Quistis moaned as she was dragged along towards the Fire Cavern, unhappy with the team arrangements. Rinoa waved goodbye before joining Zell on the path to Balamb City. 

  


Inside the city, Rinoa and Zell stopped to talk to Ma Dincht. She offered them some ice tea but couldn't help them in their search. "I'm sorry, darling, I haven't seen him. I've been out back all morning, working in the garden."

  


"Please let us know if you do see him, Mrs. Dincht." Rinoa returned her now empty glass. "I'm sorry to drink and run, but we really must go. Who knows where Squall could be right now."

  


"That's all right, dear. Good luck you two!"

  


"Bye Ma!" Zell called before running out the door. 

  


The two of them followed the street past the hotel and down to the dock, asking passers-by if they had seen a seventeen year old in chocbo boxers. At the end of the dock they saw Seifer along with Fujin and Raijin. Seifer was sitting on the edge, holding onto a long fishing pole. "What do _you_ want, Chicken Wuss?" he growled when they approached.

  


"We're wondering if you've seen Squall." Rinoa put her hands on her hips.

  


"You still haven't found that loser?" Seifer asked, amused by the piece of information. He tilted his head back and laughed. 

  


"So you haven't seen him?" Zell asked.

  


"Oh I saw him awhile ago!" Raijin pitched in. "He was swimming right here so I couldn't catch any fish, ya know?" He motioned in front of the dock. 

  


"Do you know where he is now?" Rinoa was excited to learn that Squall had been sighted.

  


"Um, well." Raijin scratched his head. "He got out of the water and went somewhere.."

  


"THERE!" Fujin pointed in the direction that caused Rinoa's heart to sink. 

  


_'Well we almost found him.'_ she thought to herself. "Come on Zell, we better hurry!" she grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the place Fujin had pointed at. 

  


"I hope we're not too late!" Zell panted when they rounded the corner into the train station. They arrived just in time to see Squall's face in the window of one of the trains. They could see Squall's face brighten up with excitement as he jumped in his seat when the train's whistle blew and it began to move forward.

  


Helplessly, Rinoa and Zell watched the train leave, their mouths hanging open in disarray.


	7. Chapter 7

"Super-Duper-Mega-Bummer!" Selphie exclaimed when she heard the bad news.

  


"Yeah I know." Rinoa agreed. "The next train to Dollet leaves in a couple of hours. Let's cross our fingers and hope we find him safe and sound there." She paused and stared at Zell who had the fingers of both hands crossed along with his legs, his arms and eyes. "Right... So meet back here at 3 'o' clock?"

  


Everyone nodded their heads and they turned around to head out of the station.

  


* * * *

  


Squall jumped out of the train and squealed with excitement. The trip through the underwater tunnel was fun and he wanted to do it again. A sign in front of him read: 'Welcome to Dollet!'.

  


"Hello Dollet!" He waved to the sign before following the other people who got off the train. They lead the way out of the station and into Dollet. 

  


Once in the town, Squall discovered the many shops. The first one he came across was the pet shop. A litter of adorable puppies greeted him at the window, scratching on it with their paws. Squall got down on his knees in front of the window so he could be level with the puppies and put his face up to it. He began to paw at the window as well, squishing his face into the window in the process, turning his nose up to look like a pig's.

  


Inside the shop, Squall was excited to discover more animals. There were lots of fish in many aquariums lining both sides of one aisle. The fish were very pretty to watch but he found them 'boring' because they didn't respond to his constant tapping on the glass. Moving on, the SeeD saw some very interesting bugs. He was very fascinated as he slowly moved along the aisle until he came across a spider staring back at him from behind glass that was too thin for his liking. It was a very big spider, bigger than his fist, and very hairy. He quickly backed away and bumped into a cage behind him. Inside the cage was another hairy critter. A rat.

  


Squall squealed and ran away from this 'awful' side of the store. He passed tanks with snakes of all sizes, patterns and colours. Some coiled, some stretched out to extend as far as the length of their glass-walled homes. It was quite a frightening experience but he finally escaped the scary animals and arrived at the bird cages. Squall liked the birds. He wanted to be just like them. Flapping his arms and making his best attempts to chirp, he 'flew' around the store until one of the employees approached him.

  


"Excuse me, uh, sir. Either you are going to calm down or you'll have to exit the store. You're going to frighten the animals." The young man told him.

  


Squall obediently put his arms down and placed them in his pockets. When the employee left, he stuck his tongue out at his back. "Some people can be soooo mean." he complained.

  


"Raah! Sooo mean! Raah!" one of the more colourful birds, next to the exit, screeched back at him.

  


Squall raised his eyebrow. Well this was cool. A pondered for a moment to think of the best line for this bird to repeat.

  


  


* * * *

  


"We're going to put the par-TAY in search party!" Selphie exclaimed when they boarded the train. Rinoa, Zell and Quistis stared at her blankly. "Well we might as well have a good time while we're at it." she explained. "Hey Zell, you want to put the card in so we can get into the SeeD car?"

  


"Sure." Zell grinned. He was proud to be doing what was normally Squall's job.

  


"Tee hee, thanks!" the energetic young woman said before running through the now open door. The others followed her, a little less excited.


	8. Chapter 8

_*Sigh, I can't write like I used to anymore... I'm also running out of ideas.... anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter nonetheless._

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"The train is now approaching the Dollet station." A voice came out of the speaker above, followed by a ding.

  


"That's our stop!" Selphie jumped up from her seat on the couch. "Wake up, Zell! Nap time is over!" she yelled at the boy who was snoring on the top bunk-bed. When he got up on his feet, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he followed his three female companions out of the SeeD car.

  


As soon as the train came to a complete stop, they jumped out onto the platform. 

  


"All right, let's go." Rinoa commanded, leading the way. They were walking past the shops when Selphie insisted on stopping to see the litter of puppies in the window of the petshop.

  


"They're so cuuuute!" she squealed with delight, running into the store. The others followed her.

  


"Raah! Seifer is a poo poo head! Raah!" a parrot nearby called out. The four SeeD's froze when they heard the parrot speak.

  


"Excuse me!" Rinoa tapped a passing employee on the shoulder. "Was there a young man with brown hair wearing a pair of chocobo boxers in here?" she asked, excitedly.

  


"Yes, and he was making a big disturbance in here not too long ago." the man glared at her.

  


"Can you tell me which way he went?" 

  


The man pointed and the four bolted out of the store. They ran down the street until they came across an alleyway on their left. "You go check it out, Zell." Rinoa pushed him into it.

  


It was dark in the alley and there was a lot of litter on the ground and graffiti on the walls. The young man stepped forward cautiously. There was a dumpster at the far end and he made his way towards it. As it grew closer, he became more aware of the movement above it, in the shadows.

  


"Hey Squall! Is that you?" he asked.

  


"Spiderman! Spiderman!" he heard in reply. His eyes focused in the dim light and he could now see that the movement above the dumpster was their long-lost Squall, clawing at the brick wall. He was wearing one shoe and his chocobo boxers, along with a black leather jacket.

  


"Girls!" Zell called to the entrance of the alleyway. "Come here, I found him!" The three girls ran into the ally excitedly. 

  


"Squall!" Rinoa called to him with a relieved smile on her face.

  


"My name isn't Squall," the SeeD replied, shaking his head. "It's Spiderman."

  


"Sorry, Spiderman," she apologised. Rinoa then pulled something out of her pocket and held it up to him. "Will you come down if I give you this piece of candy?" He looked at it intensely for a moment before jumping down from the dumpster to claim the candy. He downed the whole chocolate in one bite and began to demand for more. "If you come along with us, sweety, you can have lots more candy. It's just waiting for us back in Balamb."

  


"Really?" he asked anxiously. He was now willing to do anything that Rinoa wanted. Happily, Rinoa took his arm and led him, along with the others out of the alley.

  


* * * *

  


"Weeeeeeeeeeee!" Squall squealed with delight as he slid down the slide head first. He crashed into the ground at the bottom of the slide, getting a mouthful of sand, but he didn't care. In fact, he got up and ran back to do it again.

  


They had an hour to wait for the next train so they found a playground to keep Squall entertained in the meantime. Rinoa and Quistis watched from the swings as Squall continued to play on the slide and Zell and Selphie spun around on the merry-go-round. Zell looked like he was going to be sick but Selphie wouldn't let him off and continued to push it around.

  


"Rinooooa!" Squall suddenly pleaded. He ran up to her, holding onto his pants and jumping from foot to foot frantically.

  


"What?" she asked, trying to figure out what he was doing.

  


"I..." he paused. "I have to go to the bathroom." He looked at her with pleading eyes, "will you take me?"

  


Rinoa took Squall's arm and pulled him to the merry-go-round and told Zell to take him. Squall continued to jump around and began to whine. "Pleeeease hurrrry!" Relieved to get away from Selphie and the merry-go-round, Zell happily walked him to the public rest-rooms nearby.

  


When the two of them returned to the park it was time to head for the train station. Fortunately, they made it to the station and even onto their train with no further incidents. Once inside the SeeD car, they all went straight into the SeeD room.

  


When Squall caught site of the couch and bunk-beds, he grinned from ear to ear. "Oooooooh! Is this a slumber party?" he asked, clapping his hands together in his excitement. "This is going to be soooo much fun! Are we going to get makeovers?!!"


End file.
